Looking at these again, I don't want to ever again hear a rider say "this climb/stage is too hard for the riders." I mean, seriously? These old guys rode over passes of dirt and gravel, often in deplorable conditions, and roads on the flat lands not much better, with many of them cobbled.

Alpe d'Huez wrote:Looking at these again, I don't want to ever again hear a rider say "this climb/stage is too hard for the riders." I mean, seriously? These old guys rode over passes of dirt and gravel, often in deplorable conditions, and roads on the flat lands not much better, with many of them cobbled.

Alpe d'Huez wrote:Looking at these again, I don't want to ever again hear a rider say "this climb/stage is too hard for the riders." I mean, seriously? These old guys rode over passes of dirt and gravel, often in deplorable conditions, and roads on the flat lands not much better, with many of them cobbled.

The first stage of the first TdF went from Paris to Lyon, a distance of 467 km (and the cycling short had yet to be invented). HdG forbade derailleurs until 1937 and the only carbon most of those guys ever touched was when they licked the point of a pencil.

Alpe d'Huez wrote:Looking at these again, I don't want to ever again hear a rider say "this climb/stage is too hard for the riders." I mean, seriously? These old guys rode over passes of dirt and gravel, often in deplorable conditions, and roads on the flat lands not much better, with many of them cobbled.

You forgot descending down those same 'roads' on the old-style brakes and tyres...